Kyle (BermudaFreze) returns to the fray with this space fighter which manages to be both elegant and brutish at the same time. The focus here seems to be a hell of a lot of missiles which are both cleverly shaped and stowed away in pods on the sides of the craft.
This microscale spaceship by Emperor Lugdonious has a nice chunky retro feel to it. However, it was the composition of the photography which really caught my attention. The red and grey starship floats in the darkness of space, holding station above a distant blue planet as a shuttle craft prepares to dock.
The whole thing reminds me of classic sci-fi TV from the 70s and 80s – in a good way. The color choices are smart, and there’s a real sense of depth and scale. But overall I think it’s the tiny shuttle which makes the scene. I can’t help creating stories in my head when I look at it: Who’s on board the shuttle? Where did they come from? Where are they going?
There’s enough detail here to create a sense of reality, of activity both within and beyond the still image. For me, the prompting of these kinds of thoughts is the mark of a good model. I like this a lot.
I’m loving this neat microspace build by Chris Perron. The careful selection of pearl gold parts adds some excellent texture and detail at this scale, and the light blue cockpit sets it off brilliantly. All in all this is just a classy little build.
In the future imagined by Polish builder Jerac, the younger generation cruise around in yellow hovercrafts while the ‘dad-taxi’ family car looks a little bit cooler than your average Toyota.
Firstly, we have the Aeris, the 4-person family car for collecting the groceries and taking the kids to the movies. Even Jerac has to admit that this is “slightly more luxurious” than the average family car (they must be from the nicer side of the City). Honestly, I’m not trying to sell you this car, but take a look at the rear – the building techniques used are fantastic!
Next, we have the Athame, a hovercraft aimed at the cool kids who yearn for a sportier, faster, more eye-catching ride. This hovercraft has the added adrenaline rush of a transparent floor – definitely not for the feint-hearted. I love the shaping of the front, very nice curves.
Sadly, the exuberance of youth means that the Athame is sometimes exposed to more ‘aggressive driving manoeuvres’ and the resulting vehicle breakdown requires a futuristic rescue truck. Here we have the Cobbergoot Hoverlift-3. The Hovlift-3 has a great extendable lift at the back, to cater for even the largest of future hovercrafts, and collapses neatly to allow a more streamlined look when not it use.
Despite being a (relative) ‘youth’, I think I will stick with the luxurious Aeris as my future car. That transparent floor on the Athame is just too much excitement for me…
Since mid-October I have had a pretty crazy time at work, very much at the expense of my blogging and pretty much everything else. I have built a few things, but I told my fellow contributors that I would only write something if it knocked my socks off. Well, consider me barefoot. The culprit is Swiss builder Beat Felber and his AR-1200M Mobile Crane. Tadano is a Japanese manufacturer of cranes and the model carries a Japanese livery, of the Showa Co., Ltd. of Kobe. This already makes it a bit more interesting than your average Liebherr. Furthermore, as you would expect from a builder who goes by the name Engineering with ABS, his model is full of working features.
It uses Power functions for the drive, for steering on all five axles and to extend the stabilisers on both sides, with pneumatics used to raise and lower the struts. The crane boom can be raised, slewed and extended using Power Functions and, of course, the winches are remote-controlled. It also has working lights. The boom reaches a height of 2.15 m (more than 7 ft.) and can be extended even further by adding a separate jib. This is not the tallest crane we’ve ever blogged, but size is not everything. It is gorgeous.
Some people might accuse me of posting too many selfishly nostalgic LEGO creations. Like that time last month, remember that? Ah man, those were some good times. Good times. Anyway, time to repeat the sin with this rather splendid mining scale recreation of a favorite toy from my childhood, the Raider Command from Matchbox’s 1978 line of futuristic Adventure 2000 vehicles.
Due to a limited selection of parts in olive green, French builder Eric Druon actually had to recreate this in tan (and then apply a little harmless Photoshop magic). I was lucky enough to own a few of these beauties back in the day. And I am embarrassed to say that – thanks to the power of eBay – I have been able to enjoy them all over again, albeit “mint in box”!
When you have to get around town to beat up costumed criminals, it’s important to do so with style. And technique. And size. All of these can be found in the latest creation by Hansan Kabalak, who has painstakingly recreated in epic scale the unique vehicle from the latest Batman game, Batman: Arkham Knight.
Larger than Lego’s own USC Tumbler, this Batmobile features functionality and loads of complex angles. Hansan went all out: adding his own custom decals, colored parts, and even a few custom pieces to his creation to make it as faithful to the game as possible. Best of all, Hansan even took the time to design his Batmobile with its signature feature: attack mode.
Our Pimp Rey’s Speeder contest now has over 100 entries! Thank you to everyone who has entered so far, we’re getting a real kick out of seeing all your crazy designs. Movies and TV still seem to be popular themes for speeder pimping. But as you can see below, we’ve also seen a lot of entries based on famous LEGO set themes. Get your entries in soon – you only have a 2 more weeks!
Benny’s Speeder by John Kupitz
Galaxy Force Buggoid Speeder by tankm
Octan Speeder by Timmy’s Bricks
Cinderella’s Speeder by Paddy Bricksplitter
The weather in the northern hemisphere is getting decidedly colder right about now, making this a fitting creation indeed. TBB favorite Markus Aspacher recently built this fantastic Ice Planet battle tank.
Ice Planet 2002 was one of the coolest lines of LEGO sets in its day. I think it’s great when a classic LEGO theme is honored and reinvigorated with a neat fan-built creation. Check out how the minifigures’ skis are cutting paths through the frozen precipitation!
It’s James Bond time once again, both in theaters with the new film Spectre, and in LEGO with a recreation of the famous Lotus Esprit S1 (first seen in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me) that could turn into a submarine. ER0L brings us the submerisble in this faithful build. I have to say that the Lotus is my favorite of all the Bond cars, partly because I love Lotus in general, and partly because it’s a flippin’ submarine.
I’ve been playing a LOT of Halo 5 recently – it’s a welcome return to form for the series after the slight let-down of Halo 4. As a result, I’m embarrassed I missed this stunning build until now. Cody Fowler took 3 years to put together this excellent recreation of UNSC Infinity, the spaceship star of the Halo franchise…
Cody has managed to perfectly capture the ship’s lines — no small feat when it’s such a collection of angles. I’m sure he was pleased, but also slightly nervous, when the latest game featured the Infinity so prominently on its loading screen. If you’re building a model from a source with such a rabid fan-base, you’re going to have to get the details right!
Beyond the shaping and the impressive scale (134 studs long), the blue LED lights within the vessel really add to the feel of a working starship. But for me, the little touch that sets this model apart is the attention Cody paid to the base. Often big spaceship builds like this are supported on ugly stacks – a functional afterthought detracting from the appearance of the model as a whole. Here, Cody has gone the extra mile, lavishing the same attention to detail on this element as the main ship itself. Great stuff.
The latest creation from Tim Goddard (aka roguebantha) is a beautiful microscale space exploration vehicle. It’s a great model with a real sense of heft – you can just imagine it pushing its bulk out into the cosmos, the crew peering out from the stubby bridge.
The build features a load of Tim’s signature greebles, the fiddly grey machinery details which do so much to suggest the model is much bigger than it is. Alongside those, the azure striping is an obvious treat against the relatively blank canvas of the white hull. The way the stripe continues back around the domes and the little disc at the rear is just clean and classy building. Tim says this model was an exploration in broadening his use of color. It’s a success as far as I’m concerned.
But away from the colors, what I’m enjoying most is the little gaps in the main body, offering glimpses of machinery within. All too often spaceship models can look as if they’re just tombstones of bricks strapped sideways onto a hollow shell. The gaps here suggest there’s actual stuff going on inside that pretty hull – a really nice little touch.
